The future of retail lies in centering memory
an interview w. mark aquino of niche culinary bookstore, prospect books
The speed in which we can click and procure an item is the fastest it’s ever been. Yet, I find myself thinking, what are we losing in terms of this process?
Efficiency, of course, is luxe. But, when we buy a book online instead of going into a store, what are we losing that we don’t stop to consider? In both instances the book is in our hands, but for one, there was no adventure to procure it.
No story.
I remember the first time I walked into Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris and it felt like my life shifted. The books I bought there I cherish with the utmost dignity, reverence, and pride. Memories coat themselves on those pages.
5,000 miles across the world, tucked in South Pasadena, I felt a similar feeling walking into Prospect Books. I glazed inside and entered a jewel box. Well, literally — because the store used to be inhabited by a jeweler (and still adorns their faded deep green awning). Yet, instead of jewels, now books are the treasures. The space, artfully designed and minimal, features vintage cookbooks and publications centered on the culinary, explored through recipes, travel, and art.
I met the owner, Mark Aquino, while helping my friend Jordan Santos with a Seen Library book drive she was holding there. In my hours at the store, talking with Mark, I grew more and more transfixed of his operation. This was not just a bookstore, this was the space of a collector who truly loves his things. Who loves setting his discoveries on display, so that you too can discover something new.
I was entranced by his selections. Nuzzling my head into different regions and stories. All of it was so rich. The store is warped in an energy of pure love. That’s the thing with passion. It drips onto everything and everyone it comes into contact with.
I felt such a good feeling there; I had to ask Mark if I could interview him for Electric Blue, because everything he’s doing is what I believe makes a city, makes a world feel alive: the zinging pursuit of passion and sharing that circuit of possibility with those around you.
Here, Mark and I talk about centering memory in retail, how he sources his books, and the parallels of film editing and curation.
Update: Prospect Books’ South Pasadena location will be closing at the end of the year. If you’re in the LA area in December, please don’t miss your chance to check out this gem. You can keep up with their next transition through their instagram & website.
Electric Blue: You were telling me you don’t want this to be a bookstore where people know what they’re coming in for.
Mark Aquino: I'm more niche of a niche. This is more of a harken back to discovery. To find things you didn't know existed, finding things you didn't know you wanted. The biggest part of the store is its curation. Its focus on what’s been kind of forgotten. Out of print, rare, just unusual stuff.
I think the most important thing missing from retail is there's no memory of buying. I want to create an experience where you remember where you bought this particular book at this particular time. There’s more to it than mindless consumption.
Electric Blue: And allowing yourself to be surprised! Even with the way you landed on this venture, I feel like it was kind of a surprise discovery in your life.
Mark Aquino: It was. I will say the the first iteration of the pop-up back in 2018 was completely different. It was a mix of new and old. Here it’s a bit of new — but more old, more unusual, more off the wall kind of stuff. I do mix. It’s a little design and art forward because that's just how I am.
It ranges from a regular French cookbook, maybe a first edition, but a really rare and unusual cookbook — to Wayne Thiebaud, who if you think about his art, is all about cookies and pies and lollipops. It's not so much just food that you eat, but also food for the mind.
Electric Blue: Looking back — When you were 18, did you have any idea of what you wanted to do?
Mark Aquino: I went to school for film of all things. Film studies, so it was more theory based. If you gave me a camera today, I still wouldn't know how to work it. But, what really captured me was the editing. Splicing and cutting up and reconnecting images. Because I think at the end of the day, the editor is the most important. The most powerful part of the actual film because they can manipulate how images are presented.
Electric Blue: I feel like what you're doing now is reminiscent of editing! Curation is a form of editing.
Mark Aquino: I think everyone needs an editor, because, you know, everything is just out there.
Electric Blue: Oh, yes! Oh, my god, wow. Like an editor of the world.
Mark Aquino: It's not a bad thing to have things curated for you and presented in a new way. There's just a lot of stuff out there to sort through. The sources that we trust have kind of gone away. Having that trusted source is a rare thing.
I'm old enough to realize retail before the internet. So, I'm trying to adapt and not compete with the internet, but instead present something new and something that maybe, like these books, had been kind of forgotten.
Electric Blue: It makes me think — what are we losing by quickening the buying process of everything?
Mark Aquino: I mean it becomes a robotic thing. It’s just automatic. At first it was actual people picking out the books in the warehouse for you, but now everything is so streamlined that it's automated. They've done away with that part of the equation. Now everything is pretty much just automated. Which is how our shopping is becoming more automated.
Electric Blue: I mean, I’ll buy some things on Amazon, like a sponge. But, you know, when that thing comes in and I'm looking at it, it almost carries the energy of nothingness.
Mark Aquino: You can't escape Amazon. Even with books you can't escape Amazon. Granted, I'm guilty of the convenience of buying a kitchen sponge and having it sent next day. But for more special things, I think that's going the route of not thinking about things as just one click away.
Going to a store, seeking out the book, and making the trip out there to get the book, that whole experience, that's part of the memory of buying. I think COVID actually sped up the whole retail evolution because everyone was at home, everyone was just buying their stuff online. And these brick and mortars were like, why have stuff that you can just buy online? So, a lot of these new stores carry vintage items. But, they’re also editing it so it's not just the internet in the store. There's a point of view.
Electric Blue: When someone comes in how do you want them to feel?
Mark Aquino: As if they visited my house or my living room. The biggest part is that I’m there to teach people what they might not know of. But, sometimes people come in and ask me if I have a certain book and I’m like, I had no idea that this existed. So, it’s more than a bookstore. It’s an exchanging of ideas.
I know I’m here for a certain person. I’m here, of course, to welcome you and show you my stuff. It just, you know, it takes time. You might not get it the first time. Some people think the books are for display only and I’m like “No, no! Touch! feel!” — The ones that are truthfully curious, I’m willing to put in the time and talk to them.
Electric Blue: You know, I find with things that are very specific, it gives people the chance to find something new within themselves that they didn't realize they wanted or knew they were drawn to.
Mark Aquino: Absolutely, and that's the bottom line of the store. Having it curated with a specific kind of selection makes it easier for people to choose, because every recipe is almost online. How to make beef bourguignon or beef chow fun. But, to see it in a book as historical, almost anthropological, and seeing the other recipes that went along with it, that took so much money, so much time back in the day to make, it becomes more than just the recipe. It becomes cultural and historical.
Electric Blue: How do you source your books? Is there something you look out for?
Mark Aquino: In terms of sourcing it's changed. I opened the physical store during COVID. So, before then I would go to used bookstores, estate sales. It's kind of similar to record shopping and record digging. Whenever I’d travel anywhere, one of the first places I’d want to visit was a bookstore.
Over the years I’ve developed friends that live overseas that help me out, too. That’s a big positive part of things. Meeting new people, having them get the gist of the story, and then having them as another set of eyes out there looking for you. That’s actually been the best thing.
Now, because of the store, I’m relegated to just finding online. There's different ways of searching for things because if you know what you're looking for and you search that, that person most likely knows what you're looking for and has priced accordingly. But sometimes they're out there. The gems are out there.
In October, I'll be going to Paris to go on a book-buying trip and I'll be visiting an ex-chef to hear his collection. And see if he's willing to part with some of them. We'll see about that.
Electric Blue: I love that version of a business trip. It's magical.
Mark Aquino: It is. I mean, there's a reason why I go to these places. It's a different experience in a bookstore in Paris than, say, Tokyo -- but they make you feel the same way.
Electric Blue: And what is that feeling?
Mark Aquino: Like discovering something you didn’t know you liked or wanted or even knew about. They’re presented differently, but you come out feeling the same way. That’s what I try and emulate. Where you visit here and you come out feeling that same way.
Gosh I loved this. I love you, I love Mark, I love Prospect and I love that Seen Library led you to him and this beautiful interview!!!!!!!